Material Speculation: ISIS - Marten
Between the summer of 2014 and the end of winter in 2015, the terrorist group ISIS was set out on a mission to destroy the cultural heritage in the Middle East region of the world. One attack that was particularly striking was the destruction of statues from the Roman period city of Hatra and Assyrian artifacts from Nineveh at the Mosul Museum in Iraq in 2015. This politically violent act was documented through a video that showed members of the terrorist organization using sledgehammers to break and demolish the artifacts. This horrendous action resonated throughout the world. The demolition of these artifacts did not only take a toll on the people in the Middle East, but it took a toll on the rest of the world as they thought they lost a piece of history. However, activist-artist Moreshin Allahyari was able to resurrect these artifacts with the help of technology in her 2015-2016 project: Material Speculation: ISIS.
Video of ISIS destroying ancient artifacts at the Mosul Museum in Iraq in 2015
Moreshin Allahyari is an activist, artist, curator, teacher, and writer who was born in Iran in 1985, but now lives and works in the United States after moving there for college in 2007. Allahyari uses her work to discuss social, political, and cultural issues in the 21st century, such as techno-capitalism, digital colonialism, and gender norms, among others. She uses technology (specifically 3-D printing) as a medium to explore and critique the modern world and the relationship between activism and art. Ever since the release of her 2015-2016 project: Material Speculation: ISIS, Allahyari has gained a lot of recognition because of her use of 3D printing technology as a form of both documentation and political resistance.
Material Speculation: ISIS is a collection of 12 historical statues and plaques that were reconstructed using 3D printing after being destroyed by ISIS in 2015. All the pieces that she recreates are CAD (computer-aided design) models that are composed of a semi-transparent resin that resembles a cloudy glass, giving each of the pieces a somewhat spectral impression. Upon further examination, the viewers will notice a flash drive that is encapsulated alongside each artifact that was resurrected. These flash drives act like time capsules for each piece as they contain PDFs, images, videos, and other information about them before they were destroyed. Allahyari’s recreations of these artifacts are much smaller in scale compared to the originals that were demolished.
Writer Carole Que comments on the including ISIS’ video of destruction in the flash drives encapsulated in the 3D recreations:
“Allahyari’s inclusion of ISIS’s original propaganda video in the flash drive acknowledges the reality of their destruction as a fact of heritage and collective memory, for it is only through the recognition of violence that we can begin to take responsibility for the past and initiate the process for social repair. -Carole Que”
During 2015, Allahyari was researching the relationships between plastic and oil through archiving; topics that led her to investigate the terrorist group ISIS and their involvement in oil and terrorism. This was when she came across a video of the terrorist group destroying Hatren and Assyrian artifacts in the Mosul Musem in Iraq. As a response to their heart wrenching, Allahyari completed a year’s worth of research on the Mosul Musem and the artifacts that were found there in order to recreate them in opposition to the actions of ISIS.
By using still images found during her extensive research, Allahyari was able to use and translate CAD files for stereolithography to be utilized. Stereolithography is a 3D printing method that converts liquid resin, similar to plastic, into a solid object by curation through UV light. Unfortunately, there were only a limited number of images that were clear enough for her to create a model of the destroyed statues and plaques. Thus, she was only able to recreate 12 of the statues.
Process for MATERIAL SPECULATION: ISIS (2015-2016) (courtesy of Moreshin Allahyari)
One of the pieces that she was able to bring to life is a plaque that depicts the Hatrene goddess Marten. This piece stands alone, unlike the original that was surrounded by the plaques depicting the Hatren gods Maren and Barmaren. In the center of this ice sculpture-esque plaque is a depiction of a woman that resembles a serpent with two snake-like figures behind her. The resin material used in this recreation gives the piece a ghost-like appearance with a lavender undertone.
With Allahyari’s use of plastic in this project, she not only takes a political stance against ISIS, but she also shows that history and ideas can last forever, especially if they are encased in plastic. Not only will future generations be able to acknowledge and learn from the time capsules in each of her statues, but they will also be surrounded by a semi-immortal object. In an artist talk at the University of Denver, Allahyari jokes that “if you want your pieces to live forever make them out of plastic” This is an idea that sounds ridiculous but serves as another one of her beliefs and issues with the use of plastic-based materials in additive processes. However, she plans on taking a break from making statues made out of a plastic-based material so that she does not have to be part of the problem for the time being. The use of this material also serves as another place of departure for further artists to come up with and create mediums that have the same visual and physical characteristics that do not harm the environment. These ideologies are also represented through her works, The 3D Additivist Manifesto and The 3D Additivist Cookbook.
Through Material Speculation: ISIS, Allahyari clearly demonstrates herself as an activist who expresses her thoughts and opinions through additive processes, in a term that she refers to as additivism. This form of activism complemented by art is further implored in The 3D Additivist Cookbook and The Additivist Manifesto. Through The Additivist Manifesto, Moreshin Allahyari alongside writer and artist Daniel Rourke, create an unsettling yet somewhat humorous text and video that calls for people in the creative community to submit works and ideas that push the boundaries of additive processes with a focus on 3D printing and its implications on the world. These ideas and works would eventually be compiled to create The 3D Addivist Cookbook. In this cookbook, Allahyari and Rourke include 3D printing tutorials, recipes, and texts that propel her audience to experience and dive into the realm of additive technology while also exploring the future for additive processes and technologies from an activist standpoint.
THE 3D ADDITIVIST MANIFESTO (2015) by Moreshin Allahyari and Daniel Rourke. (courtesy of Moreshin Allahyari)
Allahyari’s additvist project Material Speculation: ISIS has been very well received all around the world, and through this project, Allahyari has set a wonderful example for future generations on how one can proceed with carrying out nonviolent resistance. This series of work has been shown in exhibits all around the world, notably Venice Biennale di Archittectura, New Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and many others. This wide range of exposure allowed her ideas and use of technology as both a form of activism and art to serve as a place of departure that has endless destinations. For this, Allahyari received the Leading Global thinkers of 2016 award by Foreign Policy.
Links to the artwork:
Allahyari, Moreshin. “Material Speculation: ISIS.” Instructables. Autodesk, Inc., October 7, 2017. https://www.instructables.com/id/Material-Speculation-ISIS/.
Auger, Sandra, Randy Olson, and Kyodo. “Here Are the Ancient Sites ISIS Has Damaged and Destroyed.” National Geographic. National Geographic, July 27, 2016. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/09/150901-isis-destruction-looting-ancient-sites-iraq-syria-archaeology/#close.
Palermo, Elizabeth. “What Is Stereolithography?” LiveScience. Future US, Inc., July 16, 2013. https://www.livescience.com/38190-stereolithography.html.
Que, Carol. “On Material Speculation.” On Material Speculation - un Magazine 13.1 - un Projects. un Magazine, October 20, 2019. http://unprojects.org.au/magazine/issues/issue-13-1/carol-que/.
Trillian. “Material Speculation: ISIS.” 21st Century Digital Art. 21st Century Digital Art, April 21, 2016. http://www.digiart21.org/art/material-speculation-isis.
Vartanian, Hrag, Hyperallergic, Hakim Bishara, Matt Stromberg, Sarah Rose Sharp, and Monica Castillo. “Talking Digital Colonialism with Morehshin Allahyari.” Hyperallergic. Hyperallergic Media Inc., June 11, 2019. https://hyperallergic.com/504461/talking-digital-colonialism-with-morehshin-allahyari/.
